In this entry, Hedda’s own Kristi Barcus (University of Oslo) shares her expertise about working with internationalisation within the study administration. While we often hear about the importance of internationalisation as a strategic objective for universities, an administrative perspective provides valuable insights into the specific measures that can be taken to assure that such policies are effectively put into practice.

Since I started working at the University of Oslo in 2006, internationalization has become an ever increasing “hot topic”. The university even dedicated an entire year to internationalization, calling 2012 “internationalization year”. UiOs Strategy 2020 has set a strong emphasis on internationalization both within its teaching and research activities. But what does internationalization mean to a study administrator and what are some ways in which administrators contribute to internationalization at universities?

Student Mobility

Working in study administration, internationalization is to a large extent linked to student mobility. During the recent SIU Internationalization conference in Trondheim the rector of the University of Bergen, Dag Rune Olsen, reflected on the importance of student mobility. He said, “If a student doesn’t plan on studying aboard during their degree, maybe they should reevaluate their reason for studying. (own translation)” The idea that all students should spend time abroad during their studies is often a core aspect of internationalization policies at universities. The expectation that having an international dimension of a study program is valuable not only for the student and her future, but also to the university itself is an important factor. But how do you motivate students to study abroad? What can an administrator do to facilitate this?

The Erasmus Mundus (EM) initiative, launched after the 2003 decision, was run in two periods, 2004-2008 and 2009-2013. The goal of the programme was to improve cooperation with countries outside of Europe, and as such enhance the attractiveness and competitiveness of Europe as a destination for study. The Hedda Master programme was also one of the first 13 programmes to be accepted into Erasmus Mundus, and has within the Erasmus Mundus programme attracted students from all over the world.

The current EM initiative is now under a process of revision and is being transformed into becoming a part of the new “International higher education programme” after 2013. This means that there is now a public consultation with respect to the new programme that is to replace Erasmus Mundus. The goal is to make Erasmus Mundus more streamlined with the current “Education 2020 Strategy”. The keywords of the new strategy are knowledge, innovation, sustainability, employment and social inclusion, and it is reasonable to assume that this is becoming even more important on the agenda, since within the global economic situation, the EU member states are combating with issues like unemployment and the economy slowdown within the Union. This has put universities and higher education institutions in the center stage within the new discussions.

While there are heated scholarly debates on the legitimacy, EU activities around education and training have been in a steady increase during last years, especially after the much talked about Lisbon agenda from 2000. Lifelong learning has become a core concept in this proess and EU policies in this area are coordinated by DG AEC (DG Education and Culture) that has two directorates dealing with the issues of education and training – one focusing explicitly on the development, and the other focusing on the implementation of policies.

In addition, DG Education has also external programmes, such as the Erasmus Mundus initiative, or Tempus initiative focused on cooperation with areas surrounding the EU and other regions in the world, in addition to specific programmes focused on cooperation with other industrialised countries. A variety of these bilateral programmes and Erasmus Mundus are now integrated into the new “International higher education programme”.

The programme ranks amongst the very first Joint Degrees to be offered in Europe. Through spending a period of studies at the three host universities, students are given the unique opportunity to experience three distinct university systems and national cultures. Students also study the field of higher education as taught by the leading edge of European researchers within the field. Upon sucessfull graduation, students within the programme are given a rather novel degree by not one but three of Europe’s leading research-intensive universities.

Over the years, the programme has attracted students from more than 40 countries from far away places such as the archipelago of Vanuatu (in the Pacific Ocean), India, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Canada, Ghana, China, to name a few. The programme builts upon an innovative e-learning platform based on the audio recording of lectures, interviews with leading researchers, student/alumni blog entries, electronic reader, etc. Students also take full advantage of the various educational and networking events organised by the programme commitees of the three host universities, in Norway, Finland and Portugal.

There are a limited number of places in this highly internationalised programme.

For information on application deadlines and how to apply, please visit the Euorpean Master in Higher Education programme pages…

Erasmus Mundusis a cooperation and mobility programme in the field of higher education that aims to enhance the quality of European higher education and to promote dialogue and understanding between people and cultures through cooperation with Third-Countries. In addition, it contributes to the development of human resources and the international cooperation capacity of Higher education institutions in third countries by increasing mobility between the European Union and these countries.

This Call for Proposals aims to support projects under all three Actions of the programme:

The European Commission selected a total of 63 new Erasmus Mundus courses, 50 of which are joint-degree Master’s courses and 13 are joint-degree Doctorate programs.

“The new courses involve 296 universities from Europe and 70 partner universities from a range of countries around the world. With the 50 newly-selected Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses, students starting their studies in the academic year 2010-2011 will be able to choose from among 116 Masters offering scholarships. This first call for proposals under the Erasmus Mundus programme’s second phase (2009-2013) was launched in February 2009. It prompted 182 applications for Masters Courses and 135 for Joint Doctorates from universities in Europe and their partners around the world. A major new element in this call for proposals was the selection of 13 Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorates, which together involve 65 EU universities and 12 universities from outside Europe. The selected Doctorates cover a wide spread of disciplines in natural sciences, life sciences and humanities. Students will join these courses during the 2010-2011 academic year.”

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